Justin Bog, a good friend from Twitter, is passing out tags these days: This one is to hear about upcoming work to be released… soon. Appropriately, it’s called The Next Big Thing.

🙂

According to Justin, his new book Wake Me Up “is a psychological family drama that centers on a crime and the fallout afterwards in Missoula, Montana. It needs one more copyedit and it will be ready to publish.” His blog is worth checking out and following for anyone interested in music, words, and travel.

Here are the rules:

Answer the ten questions about your current WIP (Work In Progress)

Tag five other writers/bloggers and add their links so we can hop over and meet them, and link back to the person who nominated you.

1. What is the working title of your book?

Blood to Fire (Red Slaves #2)

2. Where did the idea come from for the book?

It expands on the scene from the dream that kicked off Dust to Blood.

3. What genre does your book fall under?

It’s back to the paranormal adventure/romance genre for this one.

4. Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?

This was a new question for me, so I scrambled through IMDB.com and had some fun imagining actors I enjoy in current shows and movies playing these characters’ roles.

For Anne, I think Stana Katic has the serious demeanor and unselfconscious beauty to carry the character through her trials. I love the complexity she brings to Detective Beckett in Castle. For her love interest, Alexander Skarsgård (if he just dyes his hair black!) has already proven he can carry the intense charisma of a supernatural being in HBO’s True Blood.

Willie Garson’s work in White Collar is what made me think he has the ability to play a member of the Russian intelligentsia as Igor.

Teri Polo showed the quirky, smart sense of humor in her role in Meet the Parents that makes her beauty match Olga’s. Tim Guinee has had a number of guest roles, but it was his work as Major Allen in the Iron Man movies that made me think he has the right stuff to play a Russian pilot/soldier who sparks off of Olga.

5. What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?

Anne has to learn how to deal with the changes in her life that were brought about by her participation in the research about dragons from the first book in the series.

7. How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?

This is the first manuscript I’ve written outside of the NaNoWriMo framework, and I’m finding it a greater challenge than expected to continue producing words without the widget and deadline to spur my progress. So far I’ve been writing it on and off for about 3 weeks (starting in June, when I failed Camp NaNoWriMo).

8. What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?

This story has elements of the fish-out-of-water heroine in Doppelgangster, and another book whose title I have blanked out (the series frustrated me) that had the only other dragon-who-had-a-human-form character I’ve read. It follows in the footsteps of Katherine Kurtz’s The Adept and its follow-on series: It’s set in a world we fully recognize for its historical fact (setting, politics, etc.), but includes mystical elements that are wholly drawn from fantasy.

9. Who or What inspired you to write this book?

I lived in Communist countries from 1978-84, so I dream about those circumstances periodically. I’ve always wondered what would make a population tolerate a totalitarian regime, so my dream mind solved the question with the stories in this series.

10. What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest?

This book continues the alternate history perspective I kicked off with the first book, that speculates that the reason the Communists maintained power for so long was that they were draining the mystical elements of their region and channeling them into something nefarious. In this case, it was dragons trapped in human form, and the journey of the first book was to help them regain their power. The second book is a natural follow-on, pushing them to use their power to fight fire with fire (if you’ll excuse the cliche).

For my five tags… rubs hands together… I’ve already been warned off by one author, so I have an angel on one shoulder and a demon on the other, debating whether to include her.

😉

We’ll see how far we get before she gets added despite her protest. The author’s name links to their blogs and I’m including links to recent books after them, following Justin’s pattern:

2. Kait Nolan: Red and Forsaken by Shadow. Kait is another Twitter buddy, and I have to give her props for creating ROW80, which is the only thing poking me in the back to keep adding words to my own manuscript.

3. Jane Isaac: An Unfamiliar Murder. She’s currently editing her sophomore novel, so I’m looking forward to reading more great stories from her in the future.

5. Jennifer James: Love Kinection and Long Time Coming. I also can’t not include the leader of my crit group. She’s another fun, interesting person, aside from the attention and focus she brings to her writing. I’m glad to have her feedback.

And look at that… I’ve run out of spots. Justin, this was a lot of fun, but now my evening has ended without me adding words to my WIP.

Thanks Tonya! Yay, I’m integral! We need to have a chat soon too, I’ve missed you. I love the actors you’ve chosen. I can so see them in the roles (you have good taste). Can’t wait to read your next book. Should I get the whip out?